His father was a graduate of the same Polytechnical University for which his grandfather was the first rector,[1] and at which Andrey Petrovich Gagarin held a professorship.

His Great-grandfather was the diplomat, artist, officer and the vice-chancellor of the Imperial Academy of Arts Prince Grigory Grigorievich Gagarin (Russian: Князь Григорий Григорьевич Гагарин, 1810–1893), himself a son of Prince Grigory Ivanovich Gagarin (Russian: Князь Григорий Иванович Гагарин, 1782–1837), poet, diplomat and patron of the arts, later an ambassador to Rome.

In 1938 Andrey would become the last Gagarin heir on Russian soil, after his father Peter Andreevich was executed during one of Stalin's purges.

He was raised by his mother Princess Varvara Vasilievna Gagarina (née Sheshina, later remarried to Vadim Mikhailovich Burlakov).

[6] Prince Andrey P. Gagarin served as the chairman of the Nobility assembly of St. Petersburg[7] and was a long-time CILANE delegate.